Just over a week after it was made public that Reed Exhibitions was going to ban assault weapons and large-capacity magazines at the Eastern Sports & Outdoor Show, the show's home page said it would be postponed.

The outdoors show annually held in Harrisburg and set to kick off Feb. 2 is considered one of the largest expos in the country. Yearly, over 1,200 vendors from North America travel to the show, but this year controversy struck.

The weapons ban hit Facebook over the weekend, and by Saturday Cabela's announced it was pulling its sponsorship. By Monday over 60 businesses backed out, and on Tuesday the number climbed to 170. It was social media giving angry sportsmen a voice.

Sportsmen sent hundreds, maybe thousands, of messages to celebrity hunters scheduled to speak, asking them not to attend. The celebrities listened, backing out quickly, prompting the show's website to sweep the list of speakers off of its home page by Tuesday.

By Thursday, the list of vendors pulling sponsorship — many abondoning a prepaid entry fee of at least $1,500 — hit over 300. It was an incredible display of the muscle by social media as sportsmen hounded businesses to pull out of the show.

Small businesses will feel the biggest impact. It's the outfitters from Canada, the Midwest and Rocky Mountains who will be hurt the most. The Internet has changed the way they all do business, helping them show off their property in an online setting, but it's the face-to-face meetings at outdoor shows like this that still have a huge impact.

Small businesses have prepared for weeks, buying inventory to display to potential customers. It's money spent in supplies that some may never regain. For the local archery shops, boating marinas or local workers hoping to make money with a part-time job at the event, they are the big losers in this potential cancellation.

A fishing outfitter from Ontario told me this week that Pennsylvania is his No. 1 revenue-maker — by far.

This show was lost over one issue, the gun debate.

No matter where people stand on guns — who should own them, what kinds, or how many — we all face one fact remains unbroken: We have people who will obey laws and people who will break them.

I am a hunter who does not own these kinds of weapons, but I respect people who want to use them legally. Whether it be for hunting or sport shooting, I know there are people who enjoy shooting these guns.

I also understand the other side of the argument, these guns are killers of innocent people each year. It's a sad fact. There are no easy answers to gun control. It is difficult for me to turn my back on this issue when tomorrow public opinion may not like the way my shotgun looks.